Troubleshoot scheduling in Anaplan XL

Troubleshoot scheduling in Anaplan XL Reporting.

The scheduling service needs access to:

• Configuration files, detailed on this page for file-based repositories or this page for SQL.
• The Anaplan XL Reporting Web Edition web services, via http or https.
• The SMTP server where emails are to be sent.

The Scheduling error log can be found in the Anaplan XL Web Edition Repository, under the __xlcubed__\__scheduling__ subfolder. For example, if Anaplan XL is installed in the standard location, it can be found here:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\AnaplanXLWeb\Repository\__xlcubed__\__scheduling__\error.log

If the SQL Repository is being used, then the error log is stored in the database. You can use the Administration application to view it, using the Admin > Logs > Schedule Log menu item.

When the SQL Repository is being used, logs (including errors) for individual schedules are available in the Manage Schedules form in the Excel client. These are viewable for administrators by right-clicking on the schedule, then choosing Manage... and switching to the Run History tab.

More information will be logged in the Windows Application Event log. Use Event Viewer to view the detail then search here for more information.

The Anaplan XL Scheduling service may not be started or may not be correctly configured. If it's been started, check the error logs and Windows event viewer for more information.

File permissions should be set on Xml\Security\scheduling.xml file as described in this article. For SQL Repository installations, please see the section below.

The Public web address setting needs to be set in the AnaplanXLWeb Management Console. You will need to restart the scheduling service after setting this.

In addition to the problems described in the standard installation troubleshooting section, the problems below may occur.

Windows Application Event log may report:

Service cannot be started. System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database "DatabaseName" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'UserName'.

The Anaplan XL Scheduling service user must be given access to the database. Add the user to the SQL database and map it to the AnaplanXL_SCHEDULER role.

Windows Application Event log may report:

Service cannot be started. System.ServiceModel.FaultException`1[System.ServiceModel.ExceptionDetail]: No access to website

Using the Administration application, open the Admin > System Settings dialog. If the Group membership required for access to AnaplanXLWeb field is set, then ensure that the Anaplan XL Scheduling service user is a member of that group.

Windows Application Event log may report:

Service cannot be started. System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): The EXECUTE permission was denied on the object 'ap_XL3_LogSchedule', database 'DatabaseName', schema 'dbo'.

The Anaplan XL Scheduling service user must be mapped to the XLCUBED_SCHEDULER role in the SQL database.

This may be caused by several things:

The Anaplan XL Scheduling service may not be started or may not be correctly configured.

No SMTP server is correctly configured, or no server has Is Global set to Y

Configure an SMTP server for the Scheduler to use, and set its Is Global column to Y

If in the Administration application, the Scheduling log reports The Scheduling Service has been started successfully correctly but not The configuration files were reloaded.

The Anaplan XL Scheduling service can't access the schedules, possibly due to:

• incorrect web server address set in the Scheduling configuration
• incorrect IIS security settings (refer to Scheduling Installation with the File-based Repository#Authentication Mode for how to configure Basic Authentication)
• a prerequisite is missing, for example, the HTTP Activation Windows component
• the web server name being in the Internet security zone (open Internet Options as the service user, and put the server URL into the Intranet zone)
• if using an address different from the server address, insert the BackConnectionHostNames registry key, as detailed below

To test if any of these are the case, either log on to the server or start a browser using the Anaplan XL Scheduling service user and browse to the URL listed in the scheduling configuration file. You should be able to browse to the URL with no errors or prompts.

In the Administration application, select the users or groups that should have access and add the Can schedule reports property

The scheduled reports may suffer from problems even when PDF printing works for normal users. Modify permissions on the Temp folder must be set for the Scheduling service user (but should also be set for all normal users). This usually results in this error message:

System.ServiceModel.FaultException`1[System.ServiceModel.ExceptionDetail]: Access is denied

followed by:

System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Access is denied

at System.Drawing.Printing.StandardPrintController.OnStartPrint(PrintDocument document, PrintEventArgs e)

If the SendTimeout on the relevant Anaplan XL Web Edition webservice is set too low, then an error similar to this one can be reported in the scheduling error log:

System.TimeoutException: The request channel timed out while waiting for a reply after 00:00:58.0399638.

By default, this timeout is set to 1 minute. In order to change this setting, use the Configure Anaplan XL Web Edition start menu utility to set the timeout to a larger value. You will need to restart the Anaplan XL Scheduling service after making any changes. 

The exception below may be recorded in the scheduling error log or in a failure email:

System.ServiceModel.Security.MessageSecurityException: The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Ntlm'. The authentication header received from the server was 'Negotiate,NTLM'. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

This issue can occur from Windows Server 2003 SP1 onwards, as described in this Microsoft Support article. To resolve the issue, the DisableLoopbackCheck registry should be created here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
Value name: DisableLoopbackCheck
Type: DWORD
Value: 1

You should also create a BackConnectionHostNames registry key, which contains the hostname and the FQDN for the website on separate lines:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0
Value name: BackConnectionHostNames
Type: Multi-String Value
Value (example):
xlcubedserver
xlcubedserver.example.com

You will then need to restart the computer.

You may also need to follow the instructions found in this Microsoft Support article to disable strict name checking.

Alternatively, this exception may be recorded:

System.ServiceModel.Security.MessageSecurityException: The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Ntlm'. The authentication header received from the server was '****'. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

If the **** does not contain the authentication scheme that the Scheduling Service uses, then that scheme should be added. For example, if Negotiate:Kerberos is selected, then you may need to switch to Negotiate and NTLM.

Alternatively, this exception may be recorded:

System.ServiceModel.Security.MessageSecurityException: The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Ntlm'. The authentication header received from the server was 'Basic realm="localhost"'. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.

This other error message may by received if the AnaplanXLWeb server and the Scheduling service are configured to use different authentication schemes. Please see how to configure Anaplan XL Web Edition here, and the Scheduling service.

The exception below may be recorded in the scheduling error log or in a failure email:

System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException: Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation. CData elements not valid at top level of an XML document.

This error can occur in some configurations when the binding for the web service is set up. The error may be intermittent.

To fix the problem, edit the web.config file (found in the FluenceXLWeb installation folder, usually at C:\inetpub\wwwroot\FluenceXLWeb) and remove the attribute from the binding.

More details on the configuration here: Manage Schedules. In the original workbook, open Parameters > Manage Existing Web Parameters > Clear Values. Clear values will remove any out of sync cell value and will reset the workbook metadata. Re-publish the workbook and resend the scheduled report.